FROM PAGE B4

month, its third shipment of Iran oil since last December, confirming an earlier Reuters report.

Despite US sanctions on Iran, China has kept taking Iranian oil, usually passed off as supplies from other countries. The import levels are roughly equivalent to 7 per cent of China’s total crude oil imports.

China’s overall crude oil imports rose nearly 12 per cent in May from a low base a year earlier to 10.8 million bpd, versus the 2021 average of 10.3 million bpd. Customs reported zero imports from Venezuela.

State oil firms have shunned purchases since late 2019 for fear of falling foul of secondary US sanctions. Imports from Malaysia, often used as a transfer point in the last two years for oil originating from Iran and Venezuela, amounted to 2.2 million tonnes, steady versus April but more than double the year-earlier level.

Imports from Brazil fell 19 per cent from a year earlier to 2.2 million tonnes, as supplies from the Latin American exporter faced cheaper competition from Iranian and Russian barrels. Separately, data also showed China’s imports of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) amounted to nearly 400,000 tonnes last month, 56 per cent more than May of 2021.